The effects of involvement of the general practitioner and guidance of the hearing impaired on hearing-aid use.
A number of international and national publications report that hearing aids are sometimes under used. In this paper, results are reported of a project to increase the effective use of hearing aids. The first intervention was aimed at a more effective exchange of information between the general practitioner (GP) and the ENT specialist. This was achieved by the introduction of a structured referral form. In addition, a simple hearing aid was placed at the GP's disposal for demonstration purposes. As a second, independent intervention, 50% of the patients were visited at home by a trained volunteer. A measure of effective use that combines the effectiveness and actual use had been developed. After the first intervention the non-effective use of hearing aids decreased from 38% to 30%, this being just below statistical significance (p = 0.12). The protocol approach by the GP in combination with the demonstration hearing aid proved to be especially useful. Patients with a counselling visit at home had a significantly lower level of non-effective use (27% versus 37%; p < 0.05) than patients who had not been visited.
Kapteyn
T S
TS
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Wijkel
D
D
Hackenitz
E
E
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment; D003376:Counseling; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011320:Primary Health Care; D017755:Prosthesis Fitting; D012737:Sex Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome